In the Shoes of James Potter
by basilisk2
Summary: James Potter and the rest of the Marauders are in their fifth year at Hogwarts. Some J/L romance. If you're going to read this, please review it as well.


"Remus, is there something you want to ask James?"  
  
"Yeah, why is his head on the table?" Remus asked, suddenly noticing that he was staring at James Potter with his nose about three inches from his face, and withdrawing.  
  
Sirius sighed. "I asked you if there was something you wanted to ask him, not me."  
  
Peter looked up from his Transfiguration homework. "I don't see anything wrong."  
  
Remus and Sirius glared at him. "What?" he said, looking at their faces, when Sirius suddenly said what Peter could tell they were thinking by the look on their faces.  
  
"How could you not see that?"  
  
Peter chortled with laughter. "He's looked that way for the last three days, I'm beginning to get used to it."  
  
Sirius smiled. Peter was right. He had been looking like that for quite a long time.  
  
Remus cut in. "It's probably due to the fact that he hasn't been sleeping properly. Have you seen him lying awake in the dormitory the last few days? He just keeps tossing and turning like there's something bothering him."  
  
At this, James sat up and glared at them all.  
  
Sirius started. "Wow, he's alive! How'd you do that?"  
  
"Do what?" Peter asked.  
  
"How'd he wake him up like that? It's like some sort of charm. Say, you haven't been paying attention in classes lately, have you? Because if you somehow learnt a way to-"  
  
"Have either of you finished your homework yet, I need help." Peter asked Remus and Sirius.  
  
"Way ahead of you." Sirius said as he passed over his paper.  
  
"Thanks." Said Peter as he began to copy Sirius' work.  
  
It was lucky no one was looking at James that moment because his eyes suddenly widened and he looked away from the spot that he was staring at in that moment suddenly, as if he would catch on fire if he didn't.  
  
"Hey James." Sirius said as he tore his eyes away from the table as if struck by a sudden idea. "What's wrong?" he said as he saw the startling look on James' face.  
  
James was now looking at the table as if embarrassed and trying to hide his face. Sirius started looking around the room as if there were something in particular he was searching for. He looked back the next moment, however, without finding anything, and shrugged.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
That night, when James had gone to bed early, the rest of the Marauders stayed in the common room. They huddled close together. There was only one more person left in the common room, but they had to be cautious all the same.  
  
"Right, so here's the plan. We come up with a prank to play on the Slytherins . er . we can . put a charm on the floor! We can make it slippery so that they trip and fall!"  
  
"I thought we were coming up with a way to figure out how to make him tell us why he's been acting so strangly, Sirius." Peter said.  
  
Remus was looking at the both of them with remote interest.  
  
"Well, I already know what's wrong, of course. Poor chap, he's always falling for someone. I haven't seen it this bad before, though. I know how to figure out who it is. It's obvious, the same thing we always do." Sirius said with a grin.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next morning James was half-heartedly eating his breakfast when Sirius grinned. He gently lifted his head to the others to acknowledge that everything was going according to plan.  
  
When James had finally stopped eating, Sirius jumped a question on him, asking quietly so that he wouldn't let him get out of his trance.  
  
"What's your favourite colour?"  
  
"Green." James answered, still in his trance.  
  
"That's strange. The last time I checked your favourite colour was blue. No . brown." Sirius then adopted a thoroughly confused look as he stared off into space.  
  
James glared at him for a moment before turning almost normal. "So." he said, "What pranks do we have planned for today?" Sirius immediately looked back at him, eyes wide. Remus and Peter looked easily as curius. Why had he suddenly started acting as he usually did?  
  
James smiled at their confusion. "So are you guys going to tell me what you have planned or just stare at me like bewildered bats all day?"  
  
It wasn't until James noted that they were all staring at him with their mouths hanging open that they snapped back to Earth. James laughed, and after getting another thoroughly confused look from all of them he stood up and left into the Great Hall.  
  
The Marauders left at the Gryffindor table gazed at each other a minute, confused, before heading off to class. 


End file.
